Al-Monitor media bias and reliability
The rating organisations do not give Al-Monitor one shared verdict in the records we hold. Their published ratings are Ad Fontes Media: Centre; Media Bias/Fact Check: Leans left. We have seen it on 162 published stories of ours.
The short answers
Is Al-Monitor biased?
The rating organisations do not give Al-Monitor one shared verdict in the records we hold. Their published ratings are Ad Fontes Media: Centre; Media Bias/Fact Check: Leans left. An outlet rating describes a broad pattern in its output, not every article it publishes.
Is Al-Monitor left or right?
The rating organisations do not give Al-Monitor one shared verdict in the records we hold. Their published ratings are Ad Fontes Media: Centre; Media Bias/Fact Check: Leans left. In the three-way grouping used on story pages, that puts it under Left.
Is Al-Monitor reliable?
The factual-reliability assessments we hold for Al-Monitor are Ad Fontes Media: Very high factuality; Media Bias/Fact Check: High factuality. These are outlet-level assessments, not a guarantee that every report is correct.
What Al-Monitor has been covering
Our account of each story, written from every outlet that ran it, with Al-Monitor’s own report linked underneath.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a phone call on Thursday, September 17, 2026. They discussed preparing for future high-level interactions and the situation in West Asia, ahead of an anticipated meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump.
Al-Monitor reported it asChina, US top diplomats discuss 'high-level interactions' in call, Beijing says (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have extended the mandate of experts monitoring sanctions on Iran. The vote creates a gap in oversight as the sanctions themselves remain in effect.
Al-Monitor reported it asRussia, China end mandate for independent monitoring of UN sanctions on Iran (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
Sweden has expelled an official from Iran's embassy in Stockholm and summoned the country's ambassador. The Swedish foreign ministry cited activities incompatible with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations as the reason for the expulsion.
Al-Monitor reported it asSweden expels Iran embassy employee over anti-Jewish threats (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
The Trump administration is preparing to sell Israel a $2.8 billion arms package that includes 40,000 heavy aerial bombs. The sale, reported by The Washington Post, involves munitions that have been linked to civilian casualties in Gaza and Lebanon.
Al-Monitor reported it asTrump administration plans $2.8 billion munitions sale to Israel, sources say (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
Saudi Aramco has cancelled or delayed crude oil deliveries to European refiners. The disruption follows an attack on the kingdom's East-West pipeline, a key route for bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.
Al-Monitor reported it asSaudi cancels some oil cargoes after pipeline hit, top buyer chasing alternatives (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
Yemen's Houthi rebels have captured the strategic islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish in the southern Red Sea. This move strengthens their control over a vital maritime shipping route and pushes them closer to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Al-Monitor reported it asPoland’s Orlen rushes to find alternatives to Saudi oil supply, traders say (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
A Pentagon Inspector General report estimates Iranian attacks caused $184 million in damage to U.S. diplomatic facilities in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. The report also details U.S. war costs and casualties.
Al-Monitor reported it asUS military confirms Iran war has led to munitions shortfall (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil has filed a lawsuit against Columbia University, alleging the institution failed to protect him and other pro-Palestinian students from harassment and retaliated against them. The suit claims the university's actions led to doxing and Khalil's detention by immigration agents.
Al-Monitor reported it asMahmoud Khalil sues Columbia for alleged failure to protect pro-Palestinian students (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
Molavi Yusef Gorgij, a senior Sunni Muslim cleric, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in southeastern Iran on Monday, September 14, 2026. The official Iranian news agency IRNA reported the killing, quoting a local governor who said Gorgij was active against divisive elements and Zionism.
Al-Monitor reported it asThird Sunni cleric killed in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan Province: What to know (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
An Izmir court ordered the pre-trial detention of 16 people as part of the 'My Family Is Safe' operation. The operation, coordinated by the Izmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, targeted LGBT individuals and organisations, with reports of differing arrest numbers nationwide.
Al-Monitor reported it asTurkish court jails 16 in Izmir after raids on LGBTQ+ groups (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, was prevented from attending an IAEA meeting in Vienna. Austria cited a UN travel ban, while Iran accused the US of pressuring Vienna to deny the visa.
Al-Monitor reported it asIran protests as US prevents its nuclear chief attending IAEA meeting (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
An Israeli soldier shot a Palestinian man in the leg during a confrontation over grazing land in the West Bank. Eyewitnesses claim settlers initiated the conflict, leading to Israeli forces firing on villagers. The IDF confirmed a soldier fired and has launched an investigation.
Al-Monitor reported it asHouthis target Saudi base as Iran denies involvement in Yemen war (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
US President Donald Trump has downplayed reports that Chinese entities provided Iran with satellite imagery of a US military base in Jordan. The attack killed three American soldiers. Trump stated that China spies on the US, and the US spies on China as well, calling accusations of assistance 'unfounded'.
Al-Monitor reported it asTrump dismisses report China entities helped Iran before attack that killed US troops (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian amid ongoing West Asia tensions. Modi reiterated India's stance on resolving issues through dialogue and diplomacy and stressed the need for regional stability and freedom of navigation.
Al-Monitor reported it asIndia's Modi stresses need to protect navigation, seafarers in talks with Iran's Pezeshkian (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
Leaders of the BRICS nations have issued a joint declaration expressing deep concern over escalating Middle East tensions. They called for maximum restraint and condemned unilateral sanctions not authorized by the UN, stating they violate international law.
Al-Monitor reported it asBRICS adopts joint declaration, urges 'maximum restraint' in Mideast (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
The BRICS New Delhi Declaration condemned the April 22, 2025, terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. The statement called for zero tolerance towards state-sponsored cross-border terrorism and reaffirmed the commitment to combating terrorism in all its forms.
Al-Monitor reported it asBRICS bloc agrees on joint declaration, sources say (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
Iran has established a barter-like mechanism to circumvent US sanctions on its oil exports, allowing it to convert oil revenues into credits for purchasing goods from China. This system bypasses international banking transfers and has facilitated the import of various items, including military equipment.
Al-Monitor reported it asUS slaps new sanctions on networks aiding Iran's proxies in Middle East (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
The US Treasury will sanction an unnamed large bank on Monday, September 14, 2026, as part of its economic pressure campaign against Iran. The sanction was postponed from Friday to honor the 9/11 attacks. This action is part of Operation Economic Outcast, which has targeted nearly 60 entities linked to Iran.
Al-Monitor reported it asTrump administration to sanction unnamed 'large' bank on Monday, Bessent says (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
Satellite data has detected a large fire and thermal anomalies near Saudi Arabia's East-West oil pipeline. Unconfirmed reports suggest Houthi forces may be responsible, though Saudi authorities have not confirmed the incident.
Al-Monitor reported it asSaudi Arabia says drones launched from Iraq hit East-West pipeline, holds off on retaliation (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
The Justice Department announced the deportation of Nazira Haji Zada, an Afghan woman accused of aiding a terror plot. Her case was the first to use the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, a secretive tribunal established 30 years ago, which had not been activated until this summer.
Al-Monitor reported it asAfghan woman deported from US in first use of secretive terrorism court (opens Al-Monitor in a new tab)
Who says so
2 organisations have published a rating for this outlet, in their own words. Where they disagree, the disagreement is the useful part and it is left standing.
How reliably it reports fact
A rating of the newsroom in general, by others, and a different thing from the Trust score we publish on each story, which judges one piece of reporting.
Very high factuality
Who owns it
- Jamal Danielunknowndirect owner
Where it publishes from
- Publishes from
- Washington, District of Columbia, United States
- Official site
- al-monitor.com
- Seen publishing on
- al-monitor.com
- Access
- Paywalled
- Wikipedia
- Entry
What we have seen ourselves
Counted across the stories this site has published, which is the only denominator a reader can check: every one of them has a page, and every page lists the reports it was written from.
- Stories
- 162
- Reports listed
- 177
- We could read
- 0
- First seen
- 4 August 2026
177 of those reports were paywalled or blocked to us. Our reading of this outlet is built on the 0 we could open, not on everything it published.
On 95 of those stories, outlets rated left were largely absent from the coverage and Al-Monitor ran the story anyway.
Across the 162 stories of ours where at least three of the reports we listed carried a time, we logged no report earlier than Al-Monitor’s on 14 of them. Overall it filed a median of 14 hours after the earliest report we logged.
Measured 18 September 2026. Last seen in a coverage list 18 September 2026. Ratings pulled 5 September 2026.
Other outlets rated the same way
Publishers carrying the same published leaning as Al-Monitor, also publishing from United States, ordered by how often we have seen them on a story. Sharing a rating is not the same as being alike.
Think this page is wrong?
The leanings above are published by AllSides, Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias/Fact Check, and we republish them rather than make them. If you think one is misapplied, the strongest place to say so is with the organisation that made it, and every verdict here links to their page.
What we are responsible for is everything else: the ownership chain, where Al-Monitor publishes from, which of our stories we have listed it on, and whether we have the right publisher at all. Tell us what is wrong and an editor reads it.
Report something wrong on this page
Anything we correct is written up in the public corrections log. We do not publish reader votes as a rating, because an unattributed rating is the thing this site exists to argue against.
Every rating on this page is a named third party’s published work, republished with its author and, where one exists, a link to it. Our own coverage record is the section we measure ourselves. Neither is a judgement of any individual report: those are scored story by story, and the reasoning is on our methodology page.